Re: labels thrown "out of whack" when cell or table margins changed? How to fix ... ?

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So here's the problem. 5167 has 4 columns of 20 rows (for a total of 80 labels). The original target label file has the standard 8x20. But the merged docts all come out at 8x21! I don't know how to fix this.

The layout I get when I choose the 5167 option is 4x20. My best guess is that at some point along the way, you may have selected a table row and duplicated it by accident to make a 4x21 layout.

To see what's happening, it may help to show the table gridlines - try Table|Gridlines.

User: <<USER>>
UIN: <<UIN>>
Country: <<COUNTRY>> S/N: <<SN>>
Model: <<Model>> P/N: <<PN>><<Next Record>>

Some Word-oriented terminology:
a. Mail Merge Main Document: the layout (or "template", but that does not necessarily mean a Word .dot template) - i.e. how you want your output to look, and where to put each item of data
b. Mail Merge Data Source - the data you are going to merge into the Mail Merge Main Document
c. Mail Merge Destination - could be a Destination Document or a Destination Printer, etc.

In the Mail Merge Main Document, the first label cell should have:

User: <<USER>>
UIN: <<UIN>>
Country: <<COUNTRY>> S/N: <<SN>>
Model: <<Model>> P/N: <<PN>>

Subsequent label cells should have something like:

<<Next Record>>User: <<USER>>
UIN: <<UIN>>
Country: <<COUNTRY>> S/N: <<SN>>
Model: <<Model>> P/N: <<PN>>

Peter Jamieson

"StargateFanFromWork" <NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:u2bwWkNkHHA.4188@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Peter Jamieson" <pjj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:83B14F6F-B3E9-46FD-A793-38AEFD0F23A5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Can you spell this out a bit? I read and re-read, but wasn't sure what exactly you are seeing. Is the extra row at the very end of the output, and what exactly does it contain (a duplicate of the last row of labels?)

Yes, certainly. And thanks for the question; it helped to look at this from a different angles to try to figure out what's wrong.

Admittedly, I've not done many mail merges in Word. All that I used to do in my years as a word-processor when WP was the standard. I hadn't actually looked at the data, so hadn't realized that I was just getting one record repeated over and over <g>. My extensive WP experience helped out and I remembered that there, too, we had to put and "End Record" field in. Once I did that, this Word mail merge worked properly in that way, too.

So here's the problem. 5167 has 4 columns of 20 rows (for a total of 80 labels). The original target label file has the standard 8x20. But the merged docts all come out at 8x21! I don't know how to fix this.

I just thought of this, here's what in each cell in the original target label file:

User: <<USER>>
UIN: <<UIN>>
Country: <<COUNTRY>> S/N: <<SN>>
Model: <<Model>> P/N: <<PN>><<Next Record>>

I bet you that this will make much clearer what I'm doing wrong. Each and every cell has the above coding but I'm not sure if this is completely right. Perhaps I'm missing something here, too, that is generating labels with an incorrect # of rows.

In WP, I vaguely remember that the last field on the page needed an extra code (next record, or end record, or somesuch). Is this the same for Word?

In Word 2000, the main thing to get right is "no { NEXT } field in the first label cell on the ***, one { NEXT } field at the beginning of each label cell after that", bearing in mind that some cells in some layouts - such as 5167 - have "spacer" columns of cells that should not have anything in them.

I might have misunderstood the above paragraph, but when I removed the "<<Next Record>>" (doesn't show up as "{ NEXT }" for me. I'm using an Excel file that I used to put in the fields, btw), in the first cell, the first 2 cells in the merged label output were repeated. So that's not what you're referring to, obviously <g>.

Re the spacer columns, yes. There is nothing in those columns at all and they remain empty after the merge. So okay there.

Is it possible to tell what I'm doing wrong judging from the coding above??

Thanks. :oD

Peter Jamieson

"StargateFanFromWork" <NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:Ob7CsoMkHHA.4628@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Okay, however non-intuitive this solution would be, it is doing the job, thank goodness. I'm still having one problem. I'm getting an extra row at the bottom of the merged end document. The original target document has the correct spacing at the bottom, but the merged doct. puts in an extra row. In WP, I vaguely remember that the last field on the page needed an extra code (next record, or end record, or somesuch). Is this the same for Word? Pls advise. :oD

"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" <dkr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:epEmcZMkHHA.4008@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Leave labels alone and achieve the space that you are after by changing the formatting of paragraphs - Left and Right Indent, Space Before and Space After.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

"StargateFanFromWork" <NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:uz34LWMkHHA.4132@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I absolutely must have cell margins that are at about 0.05" around the insides of Avery-sized labels #5167. Before changing the margins, the pages of labels are aligned and positioned correctly. The instant I change them to 0.05", the rows all become misaligned and a standard *** has a row pushed off to the next page. About halfway throught the first page, the labels contents are printing half off the labels.

The text before and after the merge in no way is too much for each cell and I made sure that the "automatically resize to fit contents" option is not selected in the table options of the table properties so I'm at a loss to figure out what is going on. The labels are not always printing correctly from *** to *** as, I'm sure most with experience have found, different batches of labels come out slight differently placed. I've not done much mail merge or label work as was the case back in my old word-processing days, but at the time I had working templates with table margins that worked for any label batches that came along. Through trial and error one eventually finds the margins that work to the maximums of label production offset and 0.05" is about the minimum to accommodate these offsets. Certainly, 0.08" (tEventually a margin is found that accommodates all slight variations between label stocks. But if I can't change the margins and retain the integrity of labels, then I'm stuck. Does anyone know what to do in this situation? I don't know what else to look at. 0.05" is not even my preference for label margins. In WP days, I'd use the standard WP size of 0.05" and I used to use 5167 even back then.

Stuck and hoping someone here knows a good solution to this. Thanks! :oD



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